Police interrupt copper thieves

Independence police on Tuesday arrested two people who face charges in connection with stealing copper.

It happened at mid-morning in the central part of the city, in the 1200 block of South Osage, near 23rd Street and near the Union Pacific tracks.

Police got a call about suspicious persons at 10:52 a.m. Police found two people and two large spools – about 750 pounds each – of telecommunications wire. That’s 13,000 feet of wire, and police spokesman Tom Gentry said that would cost at least $1 a foot.

“It was brand-new stuff,” Gentry said.

The two people were stripping the wire. They told the officer who arrived on the scene that they had found the wire. The officer kept asking questions, and then the people confessed and were arrested.